7 Responses

How is the quarterly outlook for AMD coming? Less than $300M/Q or more than $400M/Q.

It could well be the 14th consecutive quarter of massive losses, the biggest cumulative losses ever in the semi industry, and mountain of losses of a such a magnitude that has wiped out AMD’s cumulative profits of the past 15 year.

Setting aside the specter of this harsh reality, I imagine there is much reason to celebrate “something” really well done, the question is what is that are we celebrating: a growing mountain of future losses or the outlook for growing public deficit to save those jobs and those at IBM Microelectronics.

Balance sheets aside, the only certainty is that the computer industry can change overnight… just count the Palm Pilots gathering dust as iphone et al blew them away. And whoever thought those PONG sets wouldn’t endure until Wii died. I see a Foundry coming and I truly applaud the supporters. My FAB2 wishes now are for the “broken ground” to erupt into Vesuvius of workers in hard hats… and I passionately hope that same ground sucks water like the Turbine Dynamos at Hoover Dam.

Chips and dip, according to the 10-K filings for AMD, they are still required to include GlobalFoundries’ profit/losses as part of AMD’s quarterly results. So that is what AG is possibly referring to.

No doubt GF has been able to attract some talent so far, but that is posssibly offset by having Hector Ruiz as its chairman, who was the worst CEO in the history of the chip industry when he was in charge of AMD.

SEC and FASB regulations impose that Global Foundries results be consolidated in the results of AMD, since AMD owns 50% Voting Rights in Global Foundries.

Educate yourself, read the footnotes of the 10-Q or the latest auditor’s report; this is not a matter of beliefs but of facts, laws and some minimal human bandwidth.

Since you bring the subject of MEMS, I must remind you that over the past 24 months, conventional CMOS business has SHRUNK almost 30%, and is now an industry of about the same size it was in 2001, that is about $192 B (2009).

MEMS has not performed well as far as growth rate, but unlike microelectronics has posted sustained average growth rate of about 13% a year every single year for the past 14 years, including 2009.

Globalfoundries, until it secures growing sales from yet to come foundry customer’s, and controls its massive bleeding in Germany, remains an untested hypothesis, and a product of beliefs and hopes, not grounded on any facts, other than massive accrual losses.

Keep in mind that there was Globalfoundries assets, that is AMD’s core manufacturing operation, that run to the ground AMD.

Is it rational to continue to provide subsidies to a company that continues to lose money to an astounding rate, and that in fact has delivered the biggest string of losses of the entire history of the semi industry?